Justin Fairbairn, left, looks at flooring as Steve Weise, center, talks with Matt Barker about environmentally-friendly floor covering during a Jan. 14, 2015 class Weise presented to area contractors on “green” home construction. Fairbairn and Barker both work for MB Flooring. Weise works at the Leading Force Energy and Design Center in Yakima. (GORDON KING/Yakima Herald-Republic)
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How green is your home?
Is your home energy efficient? How clean is the air inside? Were materials from construction recycled? Were old-growth trees cut down to create your wood floors?
Those are not critical questions for everyone, but a growing number of homeowners around the country and here in Yakima County want to live in homes that match their values, said Steve Weise, who’s been building homes in the area for decades, including the area’s first five-star green home in Selah in 2009.
And he’s betting on that demand. Weise and his wife, Stephanie, just opened a new storefront in downtown Yakima, in partnership with six other home-building professionals, to provide environmentally conscious products and services to local homeowners and professionals.
The Leading Force Energy and Design Center showroom features everything from high-tech air filters and home-automation technology to reclaimed wood cabinets and toxic-chemical-free paint and carpet.
“When a person walks in, we can connect them with resources for every part of the house,” Weise said.
Although definitions and certification standards vary, the basic “green” building practices include energy efficiency, good indoor air quality, low-impact site design, and conservation of natural resources.
Over in King County, the Master Builders Association says 30 percent of new homes built in the area are green. In Yakima and Kittitas counties, about a dozen homes are built to meet Built Green standards every year, said Carly Faul, director of the Central Washington Homebuilders Association. That’s out of hundreds of homes being built.
“For some people, the certification just means peace of mind,” Faul said, but she added that data from the west side show that newly built certified green homes also sell faster.
Wiese speculated that the concept may be slower to catch on here in part because environmentalism can be a dirty word in some conservative circles. But, he said green building is really a set of practical options for homeowners.
“No one likes paying Pacific Power; everyone wants to save money; why not do something good for the environment, too?” Weise asked. “There’s no reason not to do this.”
The green standards were designed for new construction, but Weise said he’s eager to work with people planning to retrofit or remodel as well. One of his partners, Don Jordon Energy Systems, offers energy audits to see how much heat escapes the home and where, to help homeowners plan smart improvement projects.
Green homes have a reputation as being expensive, but Weise disagrees. It’s a way for people to pay for what’s important to them, he said, citing as an example a home he built for a family with asthmatic children. Good indoor air quality — achieved with high-tech air filters and products without the volatile chemicals commonly found in paints and glues — was worth paying for.
“It’s really what you value. It has less to do with money and it’s more about your values,” he said.
Paul Smith, who owns heating and cooling company Air F/X, said he joined Leading Force because he shares the vision that the homes of the future are going to be far more energy efficient.
Other partners include Ellensburg Solar, smart-home company E3 Solutions, and two architects.
Smith said that working together as a team to design a home from the outset leads to better buildings.
“For me, after 30 years putting AC in new homes, it’s nice to be involved in the beginning phase, rather than trying to figure out how to put a system in a house that’s already been built,” Smith said.
Weise agreed that collaboration is key to successful green building and that’s why one of his main goals for Leading Force is to introduce other local builders and subcontractors to green concepts and available products.
“You can’t know all this stuff, so we need to work together,” he said. “I would rather give the jobs to people I can work with here than bring experts in from the west side.”
In a recent class for construction contractors, Weise sounded a bit like a cheerleader as he discussed methods to reduce construction waste and use well-placed windows to help control temperature inside a home.
“I guarantee that there are more of these houses coming, and I want us to build them,” Weise said. “This is the future, period.”
Construction, design professionals offer homeowners energy-, cost-efficient houses
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